November 16, 2024 • 19 mins
November is National Entrepreneurship Month, and this is the time when we shout out all our small business owners working hard in our communities to chase their dreams. It's difficult work and comes with a lot of challenges, but many owners say it is just as rewarding and completely worth it. Steven M. Stroum of Framingham has had quite a bit of experience and is sharing his dynamic story through his memoir, "Success and Self-Discovery". He talks with Nichole about his journey and offers up some advice for those who want to start on their own entrepreneurial path.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here and talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Is so good to be back with you
again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. November is the month
where we come together and shout out all our small
business owners. National Entrepreneurship Month was first started back in
twenty ten and we take this month to give kudos
(00:30):
to the Americans, maybe even you, who take a big
risk and decide to go for it on their own
and chase their dreams. Starting your own small business is
really difficult work at times, and it comes with a
lot of challenges, but many people say it's just as
rewarding and completely worth it. When you're starting up, sometimes
you don't get a lot of guidance and you have
to take some falls and trips to where you have
to go. Stephen m Strom of Framing Him, has had
(00:52):
a lot of experience in that regard and now he's
sharing his dynamic story and advice through his new memoir.
Steve is here with us to talk about some of
that wisdom. It is good to have you on the show,
Steve to start here, let's talk a bit about you.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and this journey you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Took to begin with. I was.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I was in the Air Force, and I was very young,
and I had a lot of responsibility and I felt
great and I loved it. And when I went back
to college and got some co op jobs, I worked
at Northeastern. I went to Northeastern, I could never have
that same level of responsibility, you know, and had to
(01:31):
go through all these corporate steps. And I had a
big experience with After I graduated and went.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
To work for a large corporation.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I excelled in sales. I took over sales territory. This
is at Fireman's Fund at San Francisco. The territory was forty.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Ninth out of fiftieth in the company.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Wow, I outproduced my previous my predecessor his previous year.
I have produced it in three months.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I took the territory up to third place in the company. Now,
this is a major national corporation wholly owned certy of
American Express. I was, you know, I was really excited.
My boss called me into his office. I figured I'm
going to get a raised something something good's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
He brought me into his office and he said, Steve,
you know, some people need to have steak to be happy,
and some people are happy with pork and beans. He said,
around here, we're happy with pork and beans. Do you
get my drift? So I was blown away. I was
absolutely blown away. I was I was penalized for being
a high achiever.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Wow, that's kind of unexpended.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, yeah, I was blown away.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So frankly, I took the next six weeks I was conflicted.
I went to the Marine Agreement in San Francisco, worked out,
made a couple of phone calls here and there, and
then I was in the home office one day for
a meeting and the vice president of Brokeert Sales comes
up to me, big show, puts his hand on my
shoulder and said congratulations. I said for what he says,
(03:05):
you're number one in the country. I said, I'm number
one in the country. I haven't worked in six weeks.
You've got a real problem. Shame on you. Obviously, I
was twenty six years old. I was looking to get fired.
He called me into his office and said, what do
you want to do? I said, listen, you know, you
people don't have a clue what you're doing around here.
I'd like to write your national sales training program. So,
(03:27):
long story short, I got triple promoted, wrote the program.
I didn't have any corporate alliances. I just about got
boot off the roster when I presented it, and I
really learned a lesson and it was very unhappy. In
the meantime, a fella heard about me who owned a
small business and recruited me to go go into business
(03:49):
with him. The company was called Newsmaker, a product publicity company,
and that was that was the beginning of my journey,
and it was it was just excruciating to go from
my nice salary, company car and all of that to zero.
But it was something I felt, you know, I had
to do it, and that's how I got started.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Really it was really exciting.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Then six months later, this was nineteen seventy five, seventy six,
my wife and I came back from San Francisco for
the bicentennial. And when I went back to California, my boss,
my partner, called me and I met at the airport
to go down to La to do some work. And
on the way back on the plane, he says Steve,
(04:34):
we would like you to start another business with us,
and so they wanted to use me as a course.
And I was exhausted. So I got a book and
title where do I Go from here in my life?
And sat down with that and came up with a
life plan. And my wife and I made a decision
(04:55):
again based on the book and a checklist, we decided
this was We had been in San Francisco for two years.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We decided to move back home.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So I came back home and I tried to get
a job as a sales manager. But I even though
I had been successful, I hadn't done it long enough
to have the credentials. So I had met with a
fellow at a company called American Career Planning Services in
Boston at the prew Walter Cameron, fabulous guy, and he said, Steve,
(05:26):
I love you, but I interviewed for a sales job.
He say, I love you management job, but you don't
have the experience. Okay, he said, so what do you
think you're going to do? I said, you know, I'm
forced to start my own business because I know what
I can do.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I've already done it right, you know?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
May I call you and come back and see you
if I do. He said, yes, so has luck would
have it. I put everything together and I set up
an appointment with him. Was on Friday, December tenth, nineteen
seventy six. I had my wife, who was my assistant,
called me at about one fifteen one twenty, pulled me
(06:03):
out of a meeting. Make me look important. You know,
there's all a shtick. So long story short. I made
a sale. I got a check. I had a salesman
working for me, and the clothes was pretty easy and
our service sold for three ninety five, four hundred dollars
at the time. So Walter had said to me, you know, jeez,
(06:23):
I've spent forty thousand dollars in advertising every day. I
don't know if I can afford you. I said, you
can't afford not to spend another four hundred.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He wrote the check. Yeah, he wrote the check. We
were out the door.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
He was on the forty first floor. I think we
hit the elevator and I just hit the thirty eight floor.
We had to go to the bathroom. We were so excited.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Came out.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Now this was I had put three I had put
three hundred dollars in the bank. Yeah, I got my logo,
letter had business cards. I didn't even own a typewriter
at the time, and I was a publicist and a writer.
So I took that check, deposited, bought a typewriter.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And I was in business. It was insane.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well any rate, my salesman and he went into the restroom,
came out. I saw a sign on the door that
set Associated Industries in Massachusetts Director of Manufacturers fifteen dollars
and seventy five cents. So I walked in, bought the directory,
went back home, and we started cold calling on that Monday.
(07:21):
And the following year again, our service was three hundred
and sixty three and ninety five. The following year we
did one hundred and sixty thousand in business.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Do that for nineteen seventy something, that's not too shabby.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It was huge.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And the following year was three sixty and the following
year was four fifteen.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And it took up.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So within two years I had twelve full time people
and I had two thousand accounts who had done business
with us.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It was absolutely it took off like a rocket ship. Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
And rather than being elated, I got depressed. And that's
my book. Is is the human side of entrepreneurship, the
human side of entrepreneurship, because most companies failed because of management,
not because of money. If you have a good idea,
you can always find money. So I had to determine
(08:12):
why I got depressed. I had had a great therapist,
and I was in therapy. At one point I had
twelve full time people I was responsible for. So I
was in therapy three days a week, three times a
week for a couple of weeks until I till I
was more stable. And when I discovered at the long run,
I was doing my work for my folks, not for myself,
(08:38):
and it was really to make them happy. And there's
a backstory there that explains why in my childhood and
I got a lot of value out of therapy as unbelievable.
And so I went through a process of really discovering
there were aspects of the business I didn't like anymore.
And one of the chapters involved my going up to
(09:02):
getting a terrific place in Gloucester. And in those days
you could smoke in your room, and I smoked cigars
and I had a picture window overlooking overlooking the ocean,
and I took a notebook a couple of cigars, some
writz crackers, and a bottlem are low and I sat
and I sat there and I wrote for several hours.
(09:24):
And the fascinating thing was a storm had come in
and the ocean was just churned up, and.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It was it was it was vicious, it was awful.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
And as I'm going through my process of writing and
puffing on my stogy, I look out and the sun
is stepping the shine and that same shoreline that was
terrible had become exquisite, I mean, absolutely gorgeous gold. And
it was a metaphor for what I was experiencing. So
(09:56):
I came out of that experience of you know, of
of writing and self awareness with the fact that I
created this monster, I created this business. I can change
it absolutely, and I can change it for myself. And
that's really what I ended up doing. And so there's
twenty two stat chapters in the book that talk about that.
(10:18):
The final chapter, however, is entrepreneurs are the real American heroes.
And many people aren't aware of the fact that ninety
nine point nine percent of all businesses in this country.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Are small businesses.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
None is true, Okay, small business creates sixty two percent
of all new jobs. But back in nineteen seventy seven
it was ninety over ninety percent.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Of all new jobs.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And the reason that changed was because of the China
policy in seventy nine which opened up trade, so all
the jobs went up. A lot of the manufacturing jobs
went offshore, so it was insane. So part of the
interesting part of that self discovery I ended up with
the book Where.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Do I Go From Here? In my life?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That I mentioned was that I came in the book
you had to do You had to write essays on
what needs doing. You preferred people, environments, what you want
to achieve in your life, and so forth, and I
thought it was interesting. In nineteen seventy six I wrote
what things that need doing. You'll get a kick out
of this. Number one more considerate interpersonal behavior. Number two,
(11:28):
equitable taxes and law enforcement. Number three, growth of the
small businessman, enhancement of free enterprise and competition. Number four
people need to be more responsible for their own actions.
And number five more vocational training. And so I've worked
to help small business survive, kind of one company at
a time. I'm very proud now semi retired, but I
(11:50):
have twelve accounts.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I still work with I've had for over forty five.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Semi retired then, I mean, i'd say, frankly, you're still
doing quite a bit of work, Sorr.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I'm having a great time on your own terms, which.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Is the most important thing. As you have been for decades.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I was going to say, I've been fortunate enough since
I was twenty six years old to be doing it
on my own. I started this company when I was
twenty eight. Yeah, but it's interesting. I had a career coach,
and this is all ill tied in with the book.
I saved every appointment book I had since nineteen seventy six,
and I had journals and corporate data, so I had
(12:26):
all these things spread out here all over my office
as I was writing in the book, which I wrote
at the young age of tender age of seventy three.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
You've been doing this a long time. I don't want
to say a long time. You've been at this for
a few years at this.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Point, a few years, that's all.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, you've seen the world change, and you've seen the
business environment change. What is it like, you think for
somebody who wants to go into small business today, What
are some of the unique roadblocks that they have to
deal with now that you notice, and what sort of
advice would you give those people?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, it's interesting you asked that question most of
the roadblocks, you know, it's I just went fishing this
over the weekend and down an island Moorada, Florida, and
I take my son down every year, and this was fascinating.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
A lot of the people around them. Are you.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
I was stirring and looking at the winds were blowing
twenty eight miles an hour. Is the conditions for fishing
weren't all that great. And the type of fishing we
do is site fishing. You really you literally hunt for
the fish when you see him, you're cast at him.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So my guide said, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Everybody talks about the weather, but there's really two types
of weather. I said, what's that? He says, whether you
want to catch fish or whether you don't.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Okay, I like that nice wordplay, but I get.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It isn't that great. And the real point was we
were able, We caught some fish. We were able to
make lemonade out of lemons. So it's really all attitude.
So the biggest thing about small business people is really
the attitude and I'll convey this in this respect. I
have a nephew, is my wife's nephew actually, and I
just met him a year ago. He was brought up,
(14:01):
unfortunately by a mother who was a crack addict, and
he had all kinds of trouble.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
His father, my brother in law, wasn't a good dad.
It was just terrible.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
So he reintroduced himself to me about a year ago,
and I sent him a book. I sent him a
copy in my book and he said, and this is
what he wrote back to me. He wrote, he wrote
me a text. I'm just going to read it to you.
He said, took some advice, took some advice from your book.
Got thirty six thousand more a year for my contract.
Thanks for sending it to me. So I wrote back,
(14:33):
freaking awesome. And then I said, Matt, can you please
tell me specifically what advice you took. I'm really happy
for you. And he wrote back to me, learning my
worth when I moved to California and restarted my life,
I think you know, And he said, you were unsure
of yourself and so on and so on and so on.
So I decided to prep and went into my client's
(14:54):
office and the man at a meeting with him, I
told him, you can't find another security guard.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'll do a much any better job than me.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
And I told them about my passion and my dedication
and I got thirty six thousand dollars more a year.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Good for him just reading the book.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
But that's that's what I would like the whole world
to experience from reading this book. And it's a great
irony here.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
The irony here. The kids, the younger people.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Who need it the most are least likely to read,
you know, and learn, and that, you know, it's amazing.
We did an analysis on people who've been buying my
book and the people are over fifty five, you know, right,
And I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's never too late for you to learn. I mean
it's important if you want to get that advice and
reinvent yourself. But you know, you've got a really good
point in that kids who are just growing up and
they've got all these ideas and they want to get
out there and do their own thing. This is the
advice they need to see.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
They need to read books. You ask specifically, they need
to read books. They need to I put it in.
I'll give you an example. I put this in my
book too. If you want, for example, I was starting
a business, I wanted to get out and start my
own business today, I would I love fishing, passionate about fishing.
So I would make a list of everybody associated with fishing,
(16:08):
whom manufacturers, who distributes, who sells.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Anything in that world.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I would look at the jobs available to me in
that world and what I like to do. If I'd
like to sit at a desk or go out in
the field, and that's and I would target that because.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That's the ballpark I would want to play in.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
And you know, I would likely end up meeting like
minded people. We might want to go off into a
partnership start a business, but at least you're doing what
you love to do, and that's you know. And I
gave that advice years ago to a client whose son
was confused about what he wanted to do when he
was a hiker, and he ended up going to work
for some company that was.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Involved with hiking. I don't know if they made shoes
or whatever they but he spent his days doing what
he loved to do. You know, Yeah, that's the good
fortune I've had.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I've had spent my days working with small business people
working with small manufacturers right, people who've challenged me and
inspired me.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
And it's just been one of.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And allowed me to become financially independent, which ain't bad
either now. And you know, so it's been terrific and today,
you know, I had the most collaborative creative experience in
my life with an editor last year. After I wrote
my book when I was seventy three, I was seventy four.
It took almost a year to edit it with a
collaborative effort a young woman who was just phenomenal. It
(17:30):
was the best creative experience in my life. Happened at
seventy four years old.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So you never know.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I believe I've read somewhere that people in their lives
go through at least two or three different career switches,
and you know, it seems to be that way. And honestly,
with these days, with all the assets we have available
to us, the Internet and you know, everything connected with technology,
it really seems like any opportunity that you might want
to kind of grab and hold on to and run with,
(17:56):
you've got resources right there for you.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well, you're absolutely right, and the fact of the matter
is it's easier today. You know, thanks to Jeff Bezos
and his vision and Amazon. You know, people can go
on and sell their wares. And you know, I publish
my book on Amazon. I'm selling it on Amazon. People
are selling their wares there, so it's an easy entree
(18:18):
for a lot of people. So you know, read and
learn about it and associate to read about it, learn
about it and associate with people in business, join the organizations.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Now it's all about online. But go ahead, do it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
You know, I tell you put yourself in that ball perg.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, learn about it, learn with other people. There are
all sorts of great books out there, including yours. So
let's talk really quickly about the name of your book.
You said you can get it on Amazon, but where
else can people get it? And just all the details
about how to find it.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
They can get it on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's called again succesf Success and Self Discovery an Entrepreneur
is Memoir of Growth and Transfer Transformation, Okay, and it's
available on Amazon dot com. I see that's also available
Minds and Noble dot com and a number of sites.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
I also have a website s M strong S t
r o u M.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Dot com where they can learn more about it if
they'd like perfect And again, this country is all about entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
All right, we'll have a great rest of your Dane.
Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
All right. He's great media, great talking with you.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Take care, have a safe and healthy weekend, and please
join us again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here and talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Is so good to be back with you
again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. November is the month
where we come together and shout out all our small
business owners. National Entrepreneurship Month was first started back in
twenty ten and we take this month to give kudos
(00:30):
to the Americans, maybe even you, who take a big
risk and decide to go for it on their own
and chase their dreams. Starting your own small business is
really difficult work at times, and it comes with a
lot of challenges, but many people say it's just as
rewarding and completely worth it. When you're starting up, sometimes
you don't get a lot of guidance and you have
to take some falls and trips to where you have
to go. Stephen m Strom of Framing Him, has had
(00:52):
a lot of experience in that regard and now he's
sharing his dynamic story and advice through his new memoir.
Steve is here with us to talk about some of
that wisdom. It is good to have you on the show,
Steve to start here, let's talk a bit about you.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and this journey you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Took to begin with. I was.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I was in the Air Force, and I was very young,
and I had a lot of responsibility and I felt
great and I loved it. And when I went back
to college and got some co op jobs, I worked
at Northeastern. I went to Northeastern, I could never have
that same level of responsibility, you know, and had to
(01:31):
go through all these corporate steps. And I had a
big experience with After I graduated and went.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
To work for a large corporation.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I excelled in sales. I took over sales territory. This
is at Fireman's Fund at San Francisco. The territory was forty.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Ninth out of fiftieth in the company.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Wow, I outproduced my previous my predecessor his previous year.
I have produced it in three months.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I took the territory up to third place in the company. Now,
this is a major national corporation wholly owned certy of
American Express. I was, you know, I was really excited.
My boss called me into his office. I figured I'm
going to get a raised something something good's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
He brought me into his office and he said, Steve,
you know, some people need to have steak to be happy,
and some people are happy with pork and beans. He said,
around here, we're happy with pork and beans. Do you
get my drift? So I was blown away. I was
absolutely blown away. I was I was penalized for being
a high achiever.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Wow, that's kind of unexpended.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, yeah, I was blown away.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So frankly, I took the next six weeks I was conflicted.
I went to the Marine Agreement in San Francisco, worked out,
made a couple of phone calls here and there, and
then I was in the home office one day for
a meeting and the vice president of Brokeert Sales comes
up to me, big show, puts his hand on my
shoulder and said congratulations. I said for what he says,
(03:05):
you're number one in the country. I said, I'm number
one in the country. I haven't worked in six weeks.
You've got a real problem. Shame on you. Obviously, I
was twenty six years old. I was looking to get fired.
He called me into his office and said, what do
you want to do? I said, listen, you know, you
people don't have a clue what you're doing around here.
I'd like to write your national sales training program. So,
(03:27):
long story short, I got triple promoted, wrote the program.
I didn't have any corporate alliances. I just about got
boot off the roster when I presented it, and I
really learned a lesson and it was very unhappy. In
the meantime, a fella heard about me who owned a
small business and recruited me to go go into business
(03:49):
with him. The company was called Newsmaker, a product publicity company,
and that was that was the beginning of my journey,
and it was it was just excruciating to go from
my nice salary, company car and all of that to zero.
But it was something I felt, you know, I had
to do it, and that's how I got started.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Really it was really exciting.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Then six months later, this was nineteen seventy five, seventy six,
my wife and I came back from San Francisco for
the bicentennial. And when I went back to California, my boss,
my partner, called me and I met at the airport
to go down to La to do some work. And
on the way back on the plane, he says Steve,
(04:34):
we would like you to start another business with us,
and so they wanted to use me as a course.
And I was exhausted. So I got a book and
title where do I Go from here in my life?
And sat down with that and came up with a
life plan. And my wife and I made a decision
(04:55):
again based on the book and a checklist, we decided
this was We had been in San Francisco for two years.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We decided to move back home.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So I came back home and I tried to get
a job as a sales manager. But I even though
I had been successful, I hadn't done it long enough
to have the credentials. So I had met with a
fellow at a company called American Career Planning Services in
Boston at the prew Walter Cameron, fabulous guy, and he said, Steve,
(05:26):
I love you, but I interviewed for a sales job.
He say, I love you management job, but you don't
have the experience. Okay, he said, so what do you
think you're going to do? I said, you know, I'm
forced to start my own business because I know what
I can do.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I've already done it right, you know?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
May I call you and come back and see you
if I do. He said, yes, so has luck would
have it. I put everything together and I set up
an appointment with him. Was on Friday, December tenth, nineteen
seventy six. I had my wife, who was my assistant,
called me at about one fifteen one twenty, pulled me
(06:03):
out of a meeting. Make me look important. You know,
there's all a shtick. So long story short. I made
a sale. I got a check. I had a salesman
working for me, and the clothes was pretty easy and
our service sold for three ninety five, four hundred dollars
at the time. So Walter had said to me, you know, jeez,
(06:23):
I've spent forty thousand dollars in advertising every day. I
don't know if I can afford you. I said, you
can't afford not to spend another four hundred.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He wrote the check. Yeah, he wrote the check. We
were out the door.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
He was on the forty first floor. I think we
hit the elevator and I just hit the thirty eight floor.
We had to go to the bathroom. We were so excited.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Came out.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Now this was I had put three I had put
three hundred dollars in the bank. Yeah, I got my logo,
letter had business cards. I didn't even own a typewriter
at the time, and I was a publicist and a writer.
So I took that check, deposited, bought a typewriter.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And I was in business. It was insane.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well any rate, my salesman and he went into the restroom,
came out. I saw a sign on the door that
set Associated Industries in Massachusetts Director of Manufacturers fifteen dollars
and seventy five cents. So I walked in, bought the directory,
went back home, and we started cold calling on that Monday.
(07:21):
And the following year again, our service was three hundred
and sixty three and ninety five. The following year we
did one hundred and sixty thousand in business.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Do that for nineteen seventy something, that's not too shabby.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It was huge.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And the following year was three sixty and the following
year was four fifteen.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And it took up.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So within two years I had twelve full time people
and I had two thousand accounts who had done business
with us.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It was absolutely it took off like a rocket ship. Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
And rather than being elated, I got depressed. And that's
my book. Is is the human side of entrepreneurship, the
human side of entrepreneurship, because most companies failed because of management,
not because of money. If you have a good idea,
you can always find money. So I had to determine
(08:12):
why I got depressed. I had had a great therapist,
and I was in therapy. At one point I had
twelve full time people I was responsible for. So I
was in therapy three days a week, three times a
week for a couple of weeks until I till I
was more stable. And when I discovered at the long run,
I was doing my work for my folks, not for myself,
(08:38):
and it was really to make them happy. And there's
a backstory there that explains why in my childhood and
I got a lot of value out of therapy as unbelievable.
And so I went through a process of really discovering
there were aspects of the business I didn't like anymore.
And one of the chapters involved my going up to
(09:02):
getting a terrific place in Gloucester. And in those days
you could smoke in your room, and I smoked cigars
and I had a picture window overlooking overlooking the ocean,
and I took a notebook a couple of cigars, some
writz crackers, and a bottlem are low and I sat
and I sat there and I wrote for several hours.
(09:24):
And the fascinating thing was a storm had come in
and the ocean was just churned up, and.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It was it was it was vicious, it was awful.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
And as I'm going through my process of writing and
puffing on my stogy, I look out and the sun
is stepping the shine and that same shoreline that was
terrible had become exquisite, I mean, absolutely gorgeous gold. And
it was a metaphor for what I was experiencing. So
(09:56):
I came out of that experience of you know, of
of writing and self awareness with the fact that I
created this monster, I created this business. I can change
it absolutely, and I can change it for myself. And
that's really what I ended up doing. And so there's
twenty two stat chapters in the book that talk about that.
(10:18):
The final chapter, however, is entrepreneurs are the real American heroes.
And many people aren't aware of the fact that ninety
nine point nine percent of all businesses in this country.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Are small businesses.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
None is true, Okay, small business creates sixty two percent
of all new jobs. But back in nineteen seventy seven
it was ninety over ninety percent.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Of all new jobs.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And the reason that changed was because of the China
policy in seventy nine which opened up trade, so all
the jobs went up. A lot of the manufacturing jobs
went offshore, so it was insane. So part of the
interesting part of that self discovery I ended up with
the book Where.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Do I Go From Here? In my life?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That I mentioned was that I came in the book
you had to do You had to write essays on
what needs doing. You preferred people, environments, what you want
to achieve in your life, and so forth, and I
thought it was interesting. In nineteen seventy six I wrote
what things that need doing. You'll get a kick out
of this. Number one more considerate interpersonal behavior. Number two,
(11:28):
equitable taxes and law enforcement. Number three, growth of the
small businessman, enhancement of free enterprise and competition. Number four
people need to be more responsible for their own actions.
And number five more vocational training. And so I've worked
to help small business survive, kind of one company at
a time. I'm very proud now semi retired, but I
(11:50):
have twelve accounts.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I still work with I've had for over forty five.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Semi retired then, I mean, i'd say, frankly, you're still
doing quite a bit of work, Sorr.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I'm having a great time on your own terms, which.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Is the most important thing. As you have been for decades.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I was going to say, I've been fortunate enough since
I was twenty six years old to be doing it
on my own. I started this company when I was
twenty eight. Yeah, but it's interesting. I had a career coach,
and this is all ill tied in with the book.
I saved every appointment book I had since nineteen seventy six,
and I had journals and corporate data, so I had
(12:26):
all these things spread out here all over my office
as I was writing in the book, which I wrote
at the young age of tender age of seventy three.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
You've been doing this a long time. I don't want
to say a long time. You've been at this for
a few years at this.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Point, a few years, that's all.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, you've seen the world change, and you've seen the
business environment change. What is it like, you think for
somebody who wants to go into small business today, What
are some of the unique roadblocks that they have to
deal with now that you notice, and what sort of
advice would you give those people?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, it's interesting you asked that question most of
the roadblocks, you know, it's I just went fishing this
over the weekend and down an island Moorada, Florida, and
I take my son down every year, and this was fascinating.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
A lot of the people around them. Are you.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
I was stirring and looking at the winds were blowing
twenty eight miles an hour. Is the conditions for fishing
weren't all that great. And the type of fishing we
do is site fishing. You really you literally hunt for
the fish when you see him, you're cast at him.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So my guide said, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Everybody talks about the weather, but there's really two types
of weather. I said, what's that? He says, whether you
want to catch fish or whether you don't.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Okay, I like that nice wordplay, but I get.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It isn't that great. And the real point was we
were able, We caught some fish. We were able to
make lemonade out of lemons. So it's really all attitude.
So the biggest thing about small business people is really
the attitude and I'll convey this in this respect. I
have a nephew, is my wife's nephew actually, and I
just met him a year ago. He was brought up,
(14:01):
unfortunately by a mother who was a crack addict, and
he had all kinds of trouble.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
His father, my brother in law, wasn't a good dad.
It was just terrible.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
So he reintroduced himself to me about a year ago,
and I sent him a book. I sent him a
copy in my book and he said, and this is
what he wrote back to me. He wrote, he wrote
me a text. I'm just going to read it to you.
He said, took some advice, took some advice from your book.
Got thirty six thousand more a year for my contract.
Thanks for sending it to me. So I wrote back,
(14:33):
freaking awesome. And then I said, Matt, can you please
tell me specifically what advice you took. I'm really happy
for you. And he wrote back to me, learning my
worth when I moved to California and restarted my life,
I think you know, And he said, you were unsure
of yourself and so on and so on and so on.
So I decided to prep and went into my client's
(14:54):
office and the man at a meeting with him, I
told him, you can't find another security guard.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'll do a much any better job than me.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
And I told them about my passion and my dedication
and I got thirty six thousand dollars more a year.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Good for him just reading the book.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
But that's that's what I would like the whole world
to experience from reading this book. And it's a great
irony here.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
The irony here. The kids, the younger people.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Who need it the most are least likely to read,
you know, and learn, and that, you know, it's amazing.
We did an analysis on people who've been buying my
book and the people are over fifty five, you know, right,
And I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's never too late for you to learn. I mean
it's important if you want to get that advice and
reinvent yourself. But you know, you've got a really good
point in that kids who are just growing up and
they've got all these ideas and they want to get
out there and do their own thing. This is the
advice they need to see.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
They need to read books. You ask specifically, they need
to read books. They need to I put it in.
I'll give you an example. I put this in my
book too. If you want, for example, I was starting
a business, I wanted to get out and start my
own business today, I would I love fishing, passionate about fishing.
So I would make a list of everybody associated with fishing,
(16:08):
whom manufacturers, who distributes, who sells.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Anything in that world.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I would look at the jobs available to me in
that world and what I like to do. If I'd
like to sit at a desk or go out in
the field, and that's and I would target that because.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That's the ballpark I would want to play in.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
And you know, I would likely end up meeting like
minded people. We might want to go off into a
partnership start a business, but at least you're doing what
you love to do, and that's you know. And I
gave that advice years ago to a client whose son
was confused about what he wanted to do when he
was a hiker, and he ended up going to work
for some company that was.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Involved with hiking. I don't know if they made shoes
or whatever they but he spent his days doing what
he loved to do. You know, Yeah, that's the good
fortune I've had.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I've had spent my days working with small business people
working with small manufacturers right, people who've challenged me and
inspired me.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
And it's just been one of.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And allowed me to become financially independent, which ain't bad
either now. And you know, so it's been terrific and today,
you know, I had the most collaborative creative experience in
my life with an editor last year. After I wrote
my book when I was seventy three, I was seventy four.
It took almost a year to edit it with a
collaborative effort a young woman who was just phenomenal. It
(17:30):
was the best creative experience in my life. Happened at
seventy four years old.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So you never know.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I believe I've read somewhere that people in their lives
go through at least two or three different career switches,
and you know, it seems to be that way. And honestly,
with these days, with all the assets we have available
to us, the Internet and you know, everything connected with technology,
it really seems like any opportunity that you might want
to kind of grab and hold on to and run with,
(17:56):
you've got resources right there for you.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well, you're absolutely right, and the fact of the matter
is it's easier today. You know, thanks to Jeff Bezos
and his vision and Amazon. You know, people can go
on and sell their wares. And you know, I publish
my book on Amazon. I'm selling it on Amazon. People
are selling their wares there, so it's an easy entree
(18:18):
for a lot of people. So you know, read and
learn about it and associate to read about it, learn
about it and associate with people in business, join the organizations.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Now it's all about online. But go ahead, do it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
You know, I tell you put yourself in that ball perg.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, learn about it, learn with other people. There are
all sorts of great books out there, including yours. So
let's talk really quickly about the name of your book.
You said you can get it on Amazon, but where
else can people get it? And just all the details
about how to find it.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
They can get it on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's called again succesf Success and Self Discovery an Entrepreneur
is Memoir of Growth and Transfer Transformation, Okay, and it's
available on Amazon dot com. I see that's also available
Minds and Noble dot com and a number of sites.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
I also have a website s M strong S t
r o u M.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Dot com where they can learn more about it if
they'd like perfect And again, this country is all about entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
All right, we'll have a great rest of your Dane.
Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
All right. He's great media, great talking with you.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Take care, have a safe and healthy weekend, and please
join us again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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